Diagnosis. Cyrtodactylus collegalensis (and members of the C. collegalensis complex) can be separated from all other Cyrtodactylus species by entirely homogeneous dorsal scalation, the absence of a precloacal groove, no enlarged precloacal or femoral scales, and no precloacal or femoral pores. C. collegalensis and members of the C. collegalensis complex differ from other Geckoella species in homogeneous dorsal scalation that consists of small, granular scales (vs. large flattened or granular dorsal scales, interspersed with a few or numerous tubercles in C. albofasciatus, C. deccanensis and C. triedrus; enlarged, hexagonal scales in C. jeyporensis; tubercles present in C. nebulosus; presence of few enlarged scales near hind-limbs in C. yakhuna). Geckoella collegalensis can be additionally be differentiated from the Sri Lankan C. yakhuna by dorsal colour pattern (three rows of paired spots/ 8-shaped markings between limb insertions, equal to or wider than interspaces vs. one or two rows of spots/bands, equal to or narrower than interspaces). Cyrtodactylus collegalensis is most similar to C. speciosus, but can be differentiated by a number of characters which are detailed after the systematic account of C. speciosus (Agarwal et al. 2016).

Comment

Distribution: northern Indian populations have been split off as C. varadgirii. C. collegalensis s. str. (as defined by Agarwal et al. 2016) are restricted to Karnataka. Previously, C. collegalensis was considered to be widespread in India (Western Ghats, Kerala, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra), but also to occur in Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Synonymy: Gymnodactylus speciosus BEDDOME 1870 has long been synonymized with C. collegalensis (e.g. by Smith 1935) but has been revalidated more recently (e.g. Agarwal et al. 2015, 2016).

Venugopal, P.D. 2010. An updated and annotated list of Indian lizards (Reptilia: Sauria) based on a review of distribution records and checklists of Indian reptiles. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2 (3): 725-738. - get paper here